Zharova said that there are serious concerns about the policy of the Kiev regime of dismantling the Minsk agreements and its de facto rejection of attempts to find a peaceful solution to the Donetsk Basin dispute.
According to the spokesman, the Ukrainian authorities reject the Minsk agreements aimed at resolving the conflict, and one manifestation of that is the situation in the conflict zone in the Donetsk Basin. There, he said, about 125 thousand Ukrainian soldiers were mobilized, that is, half the number of personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine is now recording ceasefire violations not only locally but along the entire demarcation line, with the number of cases exceeding the maximum required by the mission to consolidate the ceasefire on July 22, 2020. Recorded prior to its entry into force Implementation force, he added.
Zaharova described the NATO crisis policy as “pessimistic” about arms transfers to Ukraine. He drew attention to the fact that London wants to send 600 soldiers to Ukraine.
In doing so, they are helping a country where the internal conflict is still far from resolved. He stressed that the West needed to understand that it would automatically become complicit in crimes against the peaceful population of Ukraine.
The spokesman said there had been “no word” about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had offered him a role in the “internal conflict in Ukraine”. He reiterated Russia’s position that Russia is not a party to the conflict and stressed that Kiev should negotiate a settlement with Donetsk and Luhansk. The spokesman said that persuading the Ukrainian leadership to abandon its “aggressive plans” and fulfill its obligations under the Minsk Agreement would be an important contribution from Erdogan.
Both the head of Russian diplomacy and the Kremlin confirmed on Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to hold talks with Erdogan by phone on Friday, and one of the topics will be Ukraine.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov also stressed that Russia is not part of the crisis in eastern Ukraine. He described the attempt to resolve the conflict by force as a “very dangerous adventure” regarding Ukrainian forces in the crisis zone.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused NATO of complicating the situation by trying to “bring Ukraine into the world of its course and turn it against Russia” with its “open destructive streak”. He complained about the increasing supply of lethal military equipment to Ukraine and the spread of “provocative” land, air and sea maneuvers involving the United States near the Russian border.
At the same time, Lavrov said, they are trying to dictate to us how the Russian armed forces should behave in our territory. He envisioned that Russia would continue to respond decisively to every unfriendly move by NATO.
Zharova also confirmed that Lavrov will meet with his US counterpart in Stockholm on the occasion of the two-day meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) starting Thursday. According to diplomatic sources, in addition to preparations for the Russian-American virtual summit, the situation in Ukraine is likely to be discussed.
Cover image source: Getty Images
